Confession: I love Jewish food. Forever and ever.

I'm Catholic. Like, super Catholic. I don't go to Mass every week (although we talk about going to Mass every week!), but I've been fortunate enough to never have doubted my faith. Not once in my life have I ever doubted it... that's a big deal to me! I credit my mom, my godparents, my grade school, and my second family, the Colemans, for instilling this faith in me. I'm lucky. I would never denounce Jesus Christ and I believe in the New Testament with my whole heart.

That said, I'm pretty sure I have a Jewish grandmother alter ego, or at least an alter stomach, because I love Jewish food. Love. Love. Love.

My stepmom is Jewish, and she was the first one to introduce me to my first traditional Jewish dish/ingredient... matzo. Or matzah. Whatever you like. It's basically unleavened bread, although it's not the same texture/flavor as the unleavened bread we Catholics take at Mass as the Eucharist.

 As an aside, my dad's father was part of the Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany and my dad ended up marrying a Jewish woman. There's all kinds of restitution happening on the Tiedge side.

As a second aside, that also makes my Chinese sister half Jewish. I'm excited for her to apply for colleges (in three years?!!!) and get every scholarship available just because she can check, like, every ethnicity.

Anyway, matzo comes in many forms... matzo meal (which is about the consistency of bread crumbs), matzo crackers (like you see in the photo above), matzo balls (like dumplings... but better), matzo brei (Jewish French toast of sorts)... and I'm sure there are more. I love matzo. And I'm making matzo ball soup for dinner tonight, so I thought I'd dedicate an entire post to a genre of food that I'm just crazy about. I hope you try some Jewish food soon, even if you aren't Jewish... you life will be better. I promise!

Blintzes, which are sort of like crepes. I love blintzes because, for the most part, they are savory. I don't really do sweets, so I loooooove these when they are just alone in their carbohydrate goodness. I can't do the sour cream of course, but with a little salt and herbs... to die for.

Knishes... they're kind of like calzones, but with more of an Eastern European flair. I like these best with just sausage, onions, and herbs. You can add cheese to them, but it's not Kosher if you do. I actually like mine better without the cheese, and it's not just because cheese and my intestines hate each other. :)

Kugel. There are so many recipes for kugel out there. I've only had the sweet kind, which kind of reminded me of cinnamon Yorkshire pudding with noodles. I am dying to have some savory kugel, but haven't found a recipe I loved yet.

Jewish apple cake. Please don't buy Jewish apple cake. Ever. Google for a recipe and make it yourself. This has been a public service announcement.

Lox and cream cheese on an everything bagel. Lox is smoked salmon... regular cream cheese... capers... everything bagel. I don't like red onions on mine, but I know a lot of people do. I could eat this for breakfast every day. And I would, if they made dairy-free cream cheese and sold it at Wallyworld. But they don't.

Challah bread. Or Hallah bread. Or Halla bread. Or Challa bread. I don't know why it has so many different spellings, but no matter how you spell it, it's the best bread. Ever. It's also incredibly easy to make (please use honey and not sugar!) and doesn't need anything but a little bit of salt to taste incredible. This is the first bread I ever made from scratch!

Latkes. Think hash brown cakes... but better. These can be eaten at any meal, and they are soooooo good with a little bit of salt and applesauce. And they're easy to make! I really like Emeril's latke recipe, but without the caviar. Honestly, if I had to buy caviar, I wouldn't even know where to go. I'm just not classy enough for cavier I guess.

Matzo ball soup. Without a doubt my favorite Jewish recipe... I'm eating it as I type this. I never have fresh dill, but I know dill is delicious in it, as is just a teeeeeny squirt of lemon juice before serving. I used Manischewitz's matzo ball mix that my mom sent me (there's what, 6 Jewish people in the entire city of Del Rio? Not much matzo running around), but I have made them myself before. I love these as much (if not more) as I love regular dumplings... these are so much lighter and airier. There is NOTHING else like matzo ball soup when you're sick. It's better than chicken soup for sure. Once you have it, you'll never want chicken soup again!

Thank you for humoring me while I gush about Jewish food. I hope you go out and try one of these things immediately, for the sake of bettering your life.